WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along withSenators John Barrasso (R-WY), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Mike Braun (R-IN), today introduced the Cutting-off Communist Profiteers (CCP) Act. This legislation would prohibit any U.S. political appointees from knowingly representing, aiding, or advising the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chinese military companies.
This also includes entities knowingly receiving any assistance from the Government of China or the CCP. The penalties under this act would include one to five years of imprisonment and civil penalties of not more than $50,000 for each violation.
“Far too often, political appointees misuse their previous U.S. government service to the American people to turn around and lobby for the Chinese Communist Party,” said Senator Hagerty. “That’s why I am pleased to join Senator Barrasso’s principled legislation to put an end to this practice for good.”
“China has proven time and time again it will stop at nothing to be the dominate world power,” said Senator Barrasso. “This includes using former American government officials as pawns to advance the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). At a time when the CCP is more emboldened than ever, we must do everything possible to protect our national security. American political appointees should not be allowed to cash in their government secrets for a job with a Chinese company. The CCP Act will safeguard our national security by banning these government workers from going to work for Chinese companies.”
Full text of the CCP Act can be found here.
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